Imagine Cup Games Competition 2014

Imagine Cup 2014 has launched and if you build a cool game you could end up at the World Finals at Microsoft headquarters in Seattle.

I have had the opportunity to visit schools across Canada, and I have seen an incredible number of students with a passion for games. Videos games are a thriving industry and Canada is a major player. That’s why I am excited to see the Games competition return as a major competition in the Imagine Cup.

Canada, I KNOW you have some amazing game ideas and some killer coding skills. Let’s show the world the gaming talent here in Canada!

Technical Requirements

The technical requirements are very broad, so if you are working on a game, or have a game idea, chances are you could enter it in Imagine Cup.

Your game must be developed using at least one product in the Visual Studio family and must be built to require one or more of the following platforms: Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Azure.

If you want to, you can use other platforms such as Kinect, XNA, Bing Maps, as well as third party game engines, libraries and middleware provided you obey their licenses.

Judging Criteria

If you want to know what it takes to win? It pays to read through the judging criteria, but at the same time try not to be intimidated either! Start by coming up with a cool concept and building one or two levels for a cool game. Then come back and look at the judging criteria to find out what you can add or do to improve your chances of winning.

Fun 50%

Is the game exciting to play? Is there good player feedback? Is the game appropriately challenging? Does the player want to keep coming back for more? Does the game deliver appealing innovation in gameplay, storytelling, art direction, or other areas?

Concept  15%

Does your game have a clear target market or audience? Does the game present a clear and attractive concept of who you are, what you are doing, and why you are doing it? Is the game’s core gameplay understandable and appealing?

Execution 20%

Is the game easy to learn and use? Does it have good usability features such as player help, tutorials, and game pause? Does the game have a professional degree of production in terms of user interface, art, music, and sound?

Does the game perform well and respond crisply to input?

Does the game make effective and appropriate use of the major features of its chosen platform(s)? Where there significant platform features or event platforms the project could have benefitted from but failed to utilize?

Feasibility 15%

Does the team have a credible plan for getting their game to market in terms of business model, any required partnerships or licenses or other factors? Does the team have any form of external validation for their game such as customer surveys, focus group tests, an active beta-test program, recommendations from subject matter experts, or potential investors? Does the game have a reasonable chance of success in its appropriate market given the team’s existing plan?

Who can enter?

The Imagine Cup is a contest for students. You can see full eligibility criteria in the official rules and regulations.

You must be 16 years of age and actively enrolled as a student at any time between 1 January 2013 and 31 July 2014.

Teams can be up to 4 students.

Can you get help from friends?

A team can have a mentor (this is often a professor or someone from industry, or sometimes it is a previous Imagine Cup competitor)

Your team can also have help from associates. Associates must also be students. They are not eligible for any imagine Cup prizes and may assist the team with their project only within specific disciplines. These disciplines include: Business planning, video production, graphic design, user experience design, music and sound design, testing and quality assurance, marketing and social media. More details on the definition of an associate can be found in the official rules and regulations.

I think I might be interested, what do I do now?

Register at www.imaginecup.com . Once you have registered you can create a team and sign up your team for the competition then you are off and running!